Jodi Picoult
Sing You Home
Atria Books
Hardcover with CD $28; ebook $12.99

Jodi Picoult of Hanover may have the distinction of being the hardestworking woman on the best-seller list. She's produced a novel just about every year since her debut "Songs of the Humpback Whale." Five of her books have hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. As well as offering stylistic impact and emotional clarity, her books weave in controversial themes, often in such a prescient manner that they seem to lead the public debate.

"Sing You Home," her 18th book, features the travails of a same-sex couple hoping to have a baby. One of the partners, Zoe, is a music therapist and composer. Zoe's songs literally escape the printed page to appear on a "companion soundtrack" disc included with the book, lyrics by Picoult and music and performances by her friend Ellen Wilber. The creative duo even took the show on the road, traveling through America with a musical book tour in March.

For more information, visit: www.jodipicoult.com

Jane Cleland
Deadly Threads
Minotaur Books
Hardcover $24.99; ebook $11.99

Imagine the bloodhound intrigue of Agatha Christie blended with the treasure-hunting appeal of "Antiques Roadshow" and you've got a formula for some highly addictive mystery writing. Sometimes a writer finds a sweet spot that no one knew existed, but how this one could go undetected until Jane Cleland came along is a mystery in itself. Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that she once owned an antiques business and a rare books business, both in New Hampshire, and that her literary heroine sleuth, Josie Prescott, also runs an antique and auction shop in a cozy town on the New Hampshire seacoast. In her latest book, "Deadly Threads," the peace is once again disturbed by a heinous crime. Read on.

For more information, visit: www.janecleland.net

Edie Clark
States of Grace
Islandport Press
Paperback $19.95

Non-fiction essays may not typically grace a summer reading guide, but when they are written by Edie Clark of Harrisville, they prove that truth is not only stranger than fiction, it's more fascinating and endearing. Clark, a long-time writer for Yankee, has achieved a level of popular fame while maintaining something of a cult following among writers, editors and other lovers of great storytelling.

For more information, visit: www.edieclark.com

Nancy Clark
The Hills at Home
Anchor Books
Paperback $14.95; ebook $11.99

Family drama (and comedy) is the oldest form of theatre, and it has given us a priceless cast of characters over the years, from the Borgias to the Osbornes. Nancy Clark of West Wilton offers up an irresistible ensemble with her sagas of the Hill clan, whose manners and foibles ring true with satiric elan and bittersweet wisdom. "The Hills at Home" is the first in a kind of trilogy by Clark that digresses to Prague in "A Way From Home" to introduce the Lowe family, then bids farewell (?) to the Hills in her latest book "July and August." Full of delicious wit and festooned with regional curiosities, Clark's works are often compared to those of a Yankee Jane Austen.

For more information, visit: www.nancyclarkfiction.com

Anita Shreve
Rescue
Little Brown & Co.
Hardcover $26.99; eBook $12.99

Although she now dwells in Massachusetts, Anita Shreve earned permanent Granite State street cred by penning "The Weight of Water," a time-tripping piece of historical fiction that gave star treatment (it became a major motion picture) to one of the state's most famous and mysterious crimes - the Smuttynose Murders. Her 16th novel, "Rescue," travels through time as well, but only to illustrate how a single critical moment can affect the rest of a life, how a rescue can lead to a permanent entanglement with disaster. It's a story about love and wreckage as a straight-arrow father and his off-track daughter reunite with the wife and mother who deserted them.

For more information, visit: www.anitashreve.com

Daniel Palmer
Delirious
Kensington Books
Hardcover $25.00; ebook $9.99

Granite Stater Daniel Palmer describes his debut novel as "a paranoid thriller." In it, a computer whiz who grew up embarrassed by and estranged from his schizophrenic brother finds, when his life spirals out of control and he's accused of murder, that his brother and a trusted therapist are the only ones who believe in his innocence. Palmer is the son of bestselling novelist Michael Palmer and he admits he had no plans to pursue writing, first carving out a successful career as a musician, composer and e-commerce pioneer.

For more information, visit: www.danielpalmerbooks.com

Lisa Gardner
Love You More
Bantam Books
Hardcover $26.00; eBook $12.99

Best-selling writer Lisa Gardner is famous for creating characters of substance and female leads who are smart, tough, resourceful and beautiful, i.e. a bit like the author herself. "Love You More" stars her recurring alter ego, Boston homicide detective D.D. Warren, unraveling domestic abuse, a murder and a missing child. As a working mom and activist for children, Gardner has a personal stake in this page-turner and her sense of mission connects her craft to her community, helping to raise funds for early intervention services and education.

For more information, visit: lisagardner.com

Janet Evanovich
Smokin' Seventeen
Random House
Hardcover $28.00; ebook $13.99

There's probably no actual formula for literary success, but Janet Evanovich may be on the trail to creating one. Her mixture of romance and adventure, leavened with good humor and a quirky affinity for blue-collar New Jersey community life has produced something of a cottage industry. Scratch that "something of" comment. Her family business is not named Evanovich Inc. for nothing. Her long string of novels are consistently on the bestsellers lists. "Smokin' Seventeen," on sale June 21, is the latest in the play-on-numbers series in which her heroine bounty hunter Stephanie Plum deadpans and lucks out on her way through a peculiar set of characters to get to the bottom of things. Quoting from her release: "With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie's life looks like it's about to go up in smoke."

For more information, visit: www.evanovich.com